


Dear Doctor Ratchet

by WindwiseWords



Series: Xenogen City [43]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Bonding, College, Human-Cybertronian Interactions, Medical, Medical School, Original Character(s), Teacher-Student Relationship, Team Bonding, Travel, polishing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-26
Updated: 2016-12-26
Packaged: 2018-09-12 11:24:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9069400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WindwiseWords/pseuds/WindwiseWords
Summary: Ratchet receives a letter inviting him and three guests to attend a tour of a prestigious medical college. A small snippet of Ratchet's life with his colleagues and student.





	

**Author's Note:**

> And all the way Knock Out demanded: "Are we there NOW, Ratchet?"  
> Evac and First Aid were amused. Ratchet was not.

_You are invited to tour our campus at your earliest convenience. Feel free to bring up to three guests. Housing will be provided for two days and one night, though we were unable to obtain your ‘Energon’ for food. We apologize for any inconvenience. We hope to hear from you soon._

Ratchet read over the signature again with an excited smile and marveled that the college decided to print it on very large paper. Nobody thought of a Cybertronian’s size when writing letters. That led to many clipboards and magnifying glasses laying around the average mech’s home.

“Evac, put the scalpels down and come here for a bit.” Ratchet called to his newest student, who to his delight made sure to wash up properly in the sink before coming over.

“Yes sir?” He glanced at the letter presented to him, reading it over carefully before nodding excitedly “That’s wonderful sir! Ratchet, that means the humans want to learn, right? A college is like our academies back on Cybertron.”

“Yes. Now I’ve just got to decide the other two coming with me. You’re going of course. I need my assistant with me just in case.” Ratchet put the letter in his subspace and for once let Evac ramble on about the possibilities of what the campus may look like, what they may learn, what the living quarters would be. Ratchet grinned as he turned away, and let his student go on. He’d do the same if he were younger.

 

In the end, Ratchet decided to take First Aid, Evac, and Knock Out. The Mad Doctor apprehensively denied at first, but after a talk with Breakdown and some bribing with new medical equipment the red grounder agreed.

Landing at the airport left them all a bit on edge. Most liked their feet on the ground, though Knock Out knew better of ships. “I hope this tar is set. I’d hate to get it on my finish.” He commented as they walked off the tarmac and toward a comically large sign in the pick-up zone of the airport. Evac landed a bit away on a heli-pad, and his transformation spooked the crew there to greet him.

A female with what the humans called a ‘dress suit’ was waiting for them, and smiled. She extended her hand, and they all stared awkwardly before laughing at the absurdity of the greeting.

“I apologize. I’m so used to greeting beings my size. I’m Anna Marbury, you must be Doctor Ratchet.” To her surprise, a finger was rested in her palm by Knock Out. His claws fit a bit better than the stubby ends of the Autobots’ fingers.

“Knock Out. May I say I love your outfit. Very stylish.” The red doctor smiled and winked, then transformed to wait behind her vehicle.

Ratchet grunted and rolled his eyes. “I’m sorry about him. Knock Out is the Decepticon medic. He has a thing for fashion.” Evac ran up and rested a bit, huffing out his tiredness. It was a long flight. “This is my student and assistant, Evac. And my former student, First Aid.” Both mechs waved and First Aid transformed as well to wait behind Knock Out.

“Well it is very nice to see you used your guest invites. Evac, we have a heli-pad on campus, but you can land wherever you see fit.” Anna informed, smiling and going to get into her car. Ratchet patted Evac on the shoulder and the younger mech groaned.

“Better not be too long a flight. I’m beat!” He complained, but soon went back to the heli-pad to take off.

 

The trip took around an hour and they stopped in front of a warehouse-like building, plenty of space for all four mechs.

“Whoa.” Knock Out commented, a small parking lot nearby holding a cherry red Ferrari. He ran over to check it out, smile only describable as disturbingly pleased.

“Don’t you dare do anything to that car.” Ratchet barked, the trip bringing out more of his old grump of a self. Evac ran over and the pair began to argue over the ‘proper etiquette’ of scoping out a ‘very sexy ride’ as Knock Out put it.

Anna Marbury put a hand to her mouth and hid a smile. “Your colleagues are very enthusiastic. That’s a good thing here, we could use some spunk on campus.” She went to unlock the garage and Ratchet pulled the door up.

First Aid peaked inside first, and gasped. “It looks like a hotel!” He exclaimed, running in to take the first berth he saw. “Oh it’s so soft, Ratchet!”

The old medic was impressed. It really looked like a human hotel, and he wondered how much they invested to make a Cybertronian-sized sleeping quarters. Even the tacky wallpaper reminded him of photos he saw from the web.

“This is a lot, considering you had no idea if we’d show or not.” Ratchet commented, and their guide smiled knowingly.

“If you are as much a man of science as you are of medical prowess, you’d come just out of curiosity. I’ll cut to the chase: We intend for you to visit on occasion. The students have actually asked to learn more of your culture and scientific proceedings, as well as medical know-how. Apparently one found an injured…” She trailed off and checked her notes tacked to a clipboard. “Injured Minicon? And they did not know how to help him. Humans often have a lot of empathy for things smaller than themselves.”

Ratchet nodded slowly, considering the proposal. “As CMO, I’m not sure how often I could make it. But Evac has a lot of my know-how and would sure love an opportunity to share it. He’s a bit clingy to me. Thinks I’m too old for this.” He huffed and walked over to the next berth, making sure to leave an open one for Evac near him.

The pair of mechs arguing outside ended with Knock Out being dragged over to his berth and sat on there like a sparkling in trouble. Evac took the one closest to Ratchet and looked around excitedly, bouncing a bit. Ratchet almost told him to stop fidgeting, but closed his mouth and just smiled. If Evac got excited about the school, then maybe he could put in some hours here teaching the humans.

“Well I’ll let you all get settled in. Students may come by to investigate, but you can close the door if you don’t want bothered. I’ve taped my number up on the wall.” And as she pointed, they all laughed; again comically huge compared to her. Anna smiled and nodded. “Let me know if you need anything. I’ll be back tomorrow for the tour.”

And then the four medics were left to their own devices. Knock Out took to polishing, First Aid stepped out to call Scavenger (much to Ratchet’s annoyance), and Evac and Ratchet decided to read an article on human respiratory systems together.

“So what do you think, Evac?” Ratchet asked after a while, glancing to his student engrossed in the article.

“I think alveoli are too easily damaged. They should develop stronger ones… Oh! You mean about the college?” Evac grinned sheepishly and Ratchet rolled his eyes. “I think that so far, the humans here are very understanding of mechs. I think it’s nice, but I wish we had a stop in between Xenogen and here. My blades are really sore.” He rubbed at them and almost as if someone hit the ‘Knock Out’ button, the red doctor jolted up from his berth and came over with a polishing cloth and polish tin.

“Ehp ehp eph!” Ratchet glared, snatching the materials from Knock Out and snorting. Knock Out just held his palms flat and grinned.

“Oh fine, oh senior medic of all-knowing power. You polish him.” Knock Out waved a hand over his shoulder dismissively as he walked to the door. “I’m going to go watch cars. I won’t break anything.”

Ratchet closed his mouth, Knock Out apparently reading his mind. Ratchet grumbled curses for a bit as he smeared the corner of the cloth in polish, then spun a finger in a circle. Evac turned and Ratchet smoothed the polish over his blades, feeling his student relax under his touch.

“We’ll set up a better route next time, Evac. Last thing I need is my assistant to be out with wing stress.”

“I appreciate it Ratchet.”

 

Ratchet spent some time polishing up his student’s back and blades, smiling as the young mech nodded off. It wasn’t the first time Ratchet put him to bed, tucking him under the blanket and going to check on First Aid. His former pupil fell asleep and Ratchet tucked him in as well. Knock Out lay sprawled out and snoring, and though Ratchet couldn’t cover him up he did check on him. Everyone was safe and okay and Ratchet could relax for the evening, going back to his berth to finish the article.


End file.
